Moonlit Hauntings
by NocturnalSpaceWhale
Summary: Amidst the silent trees of Japan's infamous suicide destination spot, The Sea of Trees of Aokigahara forest, a young boy sorrowfully ends his life hoping to wait for the one that he loves in the afterlife. With the threads of destiny drawing the two people he cares for dearly in all of this mess, it's hard to die in peace when his past still haunts him. Threeshot. AU
1. Bakura : Heat

_**Author's notes:**  
_

**_Warning: Horror fic, there is character death in every chapter, some bloody descriptions, and suicidal themes._**

**Yu-Gi-Oh and it's characters, the references I have made to Aokigahara Forest, the books belonging to their respective authors, the mythology, Mount Fuji, or anywhere that is included in this story do not belong to me.**

The locations and their myths are facts. Aokigahara Jukai really does exist, and so does it's surrounding villages. The myths are researched and will be explained in greater details in the next two chapters.

Talk about getting inspired by the creepiest of things. I find that Aokigahara is a really interesting place, even though its very sad and depressing. I kind of conveyed all my feels in a short fanfic. After this chapter you probably will have alot of questions, but I assure you that probably a whole lot will be revealed in the next two chapters. I like it when my stories go around in a circle.

Oh and just a tip, I wouldn't read this at night because when I was typing this yesterday in my room I actually started shaking ^.^;; and it may not be so scary for some of you guys but for me it was just too much.

**Pairings : Thiefshipping (Marik I. x Y. Bakura), One sided: Tendershipping (Ryou x Y. Bakura), Gemshipping (Thief King x Ryou)**

**Enjoy lovelies~**

If you would like some links to resources (Or just google Aokigahara) feel free to PM me ^.^

_Aokigahara Forest._

_Situated at the bottom of Mount Fuji._

_This beautiful forest is not just littered with leaves on the ground,_

_But also with bodies._

_The second most popular destination for suicide in the entire world,_

_Many people have decided to end their lives_

_Amidst these dense sea of trees._

_With the rising concern of suicide becoming apparent to the government, _

_Signs have been put out to warn people and beg them to reconsider._

"_Please turn back. _

_Think about your future._

_Your family."_

_But to some people, these signs say,_

"_Welcome._

_You are at the right place._

_Please form a line here."_

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

The sun started to set behind fading mountains that I often mistaken for clouds silhouetted in the horizon. The beauty of the heavens left me in awe, the colors of a day's end danced before my eyes, spinning, bursting into different shades, dancing with the fading light. So distracted and amazed by nature's beauty I almost took the wrong turn on a winded path down Mount Fuji.

"Bakura!" Marik shouted in the seat beside me. "If you keep looking at the landscape for a moment, you'll get us killed!"

I shot him a menacing glare, catching his feline indigo eyes, bathed by the rays of sunlight. "You shouldn't be one to criticize me on my driving."

His bronzed lips turned into a sneer, then a pout at my scolding. Folding his arms, he looked at the map again.

"_Fujigoko_ lake resort should be around here somewhere." He muttered, sneaking a quick look at me.

"Are you sure we're going the right way? We've been driving for so long now."

"I thought you were one for the scenery. Where are those two stars that you always looked out for huh?" He teased, grinning to reveal his teeth.

"Marik…" I warned, clutching the steering wheel, eyes trying to adjust with the changing environment as I drove into the path into a forest.

"Why don't you ask your friend who told you about this place?" Marik wondered out loud.

"He never responded afterwards." I shrugged at the memory. "I hope he's alright, we were planning to meet up today."

"Alright." He turned back to the map. "The resort should be near the base of the mountain, so just keep going down…"

"Hn," I grunted in reply, glancing behind my shoulders to check for passing cars. The forest came out of nowhere, swallowing us up in the deepening darkness. The great oaks scattered the sunlight in between their leaves, leaving little droplets of colour on the road. I could feel Marik shift nervously beside me.

"We're still going down aren't we?" I asked, trying to reassure him.

"Yeah. Sorry, I'm not so good at reading Japanese." He sighed, looking up at me. He turned the paper sideways, leaning on the palm of his hand.

"You're still learning."

I narrowed my eyes at an object in the near distance. The sun had probably already set by now, no help thanks to the thick canopy overhead. It was strange… A lone truck with leaves scattered over its hood almost hidden by the long shadows perched at the side of the road. I slowed the car down beside it, rolling down my window.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to ask if we're on the right track."

I pulled up beside the ominously perched rust red truck, craning my neck over to see if anyone was in the driver's seat. As I guessed, the truck was empty.

"Hand me the flashlight, Marik." I said, and he reached back to take out the item. I shone the light on the front seat, revealing a guide, a map and a book.

_Kuroi Jukai_

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I spun around, flicking the switch off of the light.

"I see something out there." Marik slowly opened his door. "It looks like a tent."

"You think we've arrived at the camping grounds then?" I asked, following his actions. I stepped out, pulling up the collar of my black trench coat against the evening chill. I turned to the abandoned truck again, giving one last suspicious gaze.

I followed Marik into the thick overgrowth, carrying nothing but a flashlight in my right hand and the map in my other. Lighting the way, I did indeed see a tent perched upright between two thick trees. Silence fell around us, and with it, a horrendous shiver shot up my spine.

I shook my head, blaming the feeling on the fatigue from the hike we had earlier.

"Hello?" Marik called to whoever was inside the tent.

No response.

He tried again.

"Are we close to the camping grounds?"

With no one responding, I shined the flashlight on the lemon yellow tent, exposing the shadows inside.

"No one's inside!" I inhaled a breath of icy air.

Marik moved towards the tent, unzipping the cover. He suddenly stepped backwards, covering his mouth in disgust.

I quickly caught scent of the odor that emitted from the inside, doubling over.

"Bakura!"

I reached for his arm, clutching at his wrist I led him away from the tent. Gasping for the sharp air of the forest, I caught his questioning eyes and nodded.

"The stench of death."

"What is it doing there?!"

"I don't know. We should get out of here." I looked around in the tenebrous wilderness, looking for the path we came through, but everywhere mirrored itself. There was no way to clearly distinguish the landscape around them.

"Damn it…"

"Bakura." His fear stricken voice echoed around us. "There's a… string. Over there."

"A string?" I turned my head slowly to where he was pointing. Indeed as he said, a thin red string laced around a tree trunk, over some fallen branches, and continued down one way. "Maybe it's a trail for lost wanderers like us."

"We don't really have another choice do we?"

I grasped the string with my right hand, skinning over the thread, trailing it wherever it went. Although I had no idea where it was leading us, it felt like we ventured deeper inside the forest. I made sure Marik was close behind, looking back my shoulder every once in a while, checking if he was alright.

Without warning, his footing was lost amid the tangled bracken, knocking something heavy aside. A hollow noise followed from where he kicked it. I quickly held on to him, preventing his fall. He gave me a shaky smile, his hand cold to the touch.

"Come on." I pulled him up to his feet, holding on to the thread again.

"Wait." His grip on my shoulder made me flinch unnaturally. I stared straight ahead at what I knew he was staring at as well. The thread grew thinner now, heading towards a clearing where the black mass laid.

Without thinking, I turned on the flashlight again, shining it towards the clearing.

A figure crouched next to another one lying on the ground, examining it intently. The person sprawled out on the forest floor wasn't moving, a pale glow emanated from his raw skin colour.

On a closer inspection, the boy lying on the ground had rope burns, blood trickling down his neck. The snapped rope's other half dangled from a thin branch overhead, split harshly in two. A red yarn laid beside his hand.

"Get away from him!" I yelled to the suspicious man bending over the boy, shielding him from my view.

He looked up straight into my light, his dark violet eyes catching the glare for a moment before dashing away into the overgrowth in a wild frenzy, shattering the silence.

"Oh my God." Marik ran over to the body, inspecting it. He kneeled down beside him, beckoning me over.

"Who was that man do you think?" I asked him, making my way over.

"A-A grave robber maybe, they come to graveyards, mass burial places, to rob their bodies. I'm sure it was one; he w-was holding something when he fled."

"Graveyards, the stench of death, a huge forest. Of course how could I have forgotten?"

"What? WHAT?!"

"_Aokigahara Jukai_." I responded much more calmly than I should have. "The Forest of Death. Many people come from all over Japan to end their lives in this infamous Suicide forest."

I pressed two fingers at the boy's throat, already predicting the inevitable result. From what it looked like, his weight must have been too much for the branch, snapping it violently in half.

"He's dead." I whispered. "Oh God… That red thread he laid out must have been for him to get out of the forest if he ever changed his mind… But I guess he came to his final decision."

"Look…" Marik said sadly, brushing a snowy white lock away from his closed eyes. "He has the same white hair colour as you… It's strange, but I think you two almost look like twins."

My heart was in my throat, realizing how young this boy was, just a few years younger than I was. Tears flowed into my eyes at the confrontation of the sight of this poor boy, trying to release the noose around his neck. My fingers shook, breath hitched, coming out in short gasps, fumbling uselessly at the hard rope.

"Damn it!" I shouted. "He made this too tight!"

_Why?_

_Why?!_

_What made you do this?_

_Wasn't there anything you could have lived on for?_

_Damn it!_

"What are you two kids doing?"

A loud commanding voice knocked me out of my thoughts, my fingers dropped from the rope, holding myself as I trembled. I looked up when I felt light hit my face.

Two forest guards stared down at us, then quickly to the body.

"S-Sirs," Marik stuttered, his native accent blending in with his Japanese. "W-We were just lost and then we-we stumbled i-into this, this body…"

"A suicide?" The younger guard asked, he bowed to the two of them. "You kids seem like you've been through hell and back…"

"Don't worry, we'll take care of this body. Come with us and we'll bring you to a hotel in a nearby village. No charge." The senior guard with a thick bushy mustache shined his searchlight on the corpse. "Do any of you by any chance know this person?"

"No." Marik replied definitely.

I hesitated for a heartbeat, looking down on the boy Marik related him as his twin. A bold suggestion.

I felt my heart tear apart in pieces.

"No."

"We'll come for the body after we've escorted you to the village. Did you guys come here on foot?" The older guard asked.

"We had a car. It's parked on the side of a road but we can't find it like this." I said, looking back at the body nervously.

"It's fine, we'll help you search for it tomorrow in daylight." He responded, and I immediately thought of decaying flesh.

"He just died didn't he?"

"Huh?"

"There's no scent, no sign of rotting. He just hung himself right before we came didn't he?"

"Sharp senses, kid. What are you, an expert in death?"

Marik put a hand to my shoulders, before responding to the guard. "We've had a long night, could you please just escort us to the village?"

They turned to each other. "Alright, just follow us."

We were escorted to their car near the base of the forest. Our breathing slowly returning to normal when we realized we were finally out of the devil's nest.

"Right, one of us has to stay here for the body." The two guards stayed outside, discussing something as I listened into their conversation.

"How about a classic game of _Jan-Ken-Pon_?"

"Alright. One, Two, Three. Go!"

"Ah, curses!"

"Haha, sucks to be you sonny boy."

"Shut it gramps."

"Just something important that I need you to remember. You sleep in a bunk bed, top or bottom, I don't care, you _must _leave the body on the one of the beds."

"What? That's absurd."

"I'm serious. If you don't, they crawl around all night. They will end up searching for human company."

"A-Alright, sleep in the same room as the corpse. Whatever."

"See you in the morning." He started up the car, and drove out of the forest.

I sat shaking in my seat at what the old guard said. My mythology was good enough to know what they were talking about and I didn't want to think about it. Instead, I turned to Marik, taking off my overcoat for him when I saw his breath evaporate into the thin air.

"W-What? Bakura…" His eyes widened at my gesture.

"You're cold." I wrapped my arm around him, pulling him into a warm embrace. "Just take it."

He blushed slightly in the moonlight, leaning into my shoulder after a mental quarrel with himself.

"Kamikuishiki village is coming up in a moment." The guard announced, eyes fixed on the road.

For once I was glad for the silence that surrounded us both. After a while, Marik put my coat around him, peacefully looking out the window. I followed his gaze towards the bright full moon, its colour reminding me of the deceased boy's hair and pale skin tone.

"I wonder if he's happy wherever he might be…" Marik whispered, reading my thoughts.

The car stopped at the inside of Kamikuishiki village, letting Marik and I get out. I suddenly had a strange wave of nostalgia crash over me. It was such a small place, without any tall buildings or crowded streets from noon to midnight. We entered a fairly new building, Marik still warming himself up with my jacket.

I sneaked a look around the village. Most of the buildings still had their lights on, since it wasn't so late at night yet. There were two, almost side by side of each other that didn't.

"Take a look at this flower Bakura." Marik beckoned me over to the small table beside the bed. Inside the vase was a small pink flower, split in the stem into two petals. "I've never seen anything like this."

He peered over the vase and read a small card attached to it. A signature of two names that he didn't recognize.

"There are a lot of plants and animals around Fuji, all strange and kind of amazing." I couldn't stop staring at the flowers, feeling as if I should have known what it was called. I shrugged and pulled up the covers on myself, trying to let go of the images from earlier today.

"Things will be back to normal tomorrow." I heard him mumble, not bothering to take my jacket off. I held him close to me.

"I sure hope so…"

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

"Stupid old man ordering me to do something as disgusting as this."

Yashitaro Matsumoto dragged the corpse of the young teenager into the cabin he was staying at overnight as a patrol for the Cursed Forest. He eyed the body once and almost threw up on the spot. At least it wasn't decaying like some of the other bodies littered around the undergrowth, but there was no way in all of the levels of hell was he going to keep the body inside with him sleeping in the same room as he was.

He dumped the body outside carelessly, rolling on its back. He eyed it one more time, groaning as he realized he would have to take the body back to one of the nearby villages in the morning for someone to claim the identity and to burn or give it a proper funeral.

Poor sod.

Sleep came easily for Matsumoto, since the pillow was quite comfortable, and the forest was silent as ever.

.

..

…

_warmth_

_The door's creak dragged on in the quiet clearing. The heat was so inviting, it beckoned it in, like…_

_a loving embrace,_

_a passionate kiss._

_love_

_Flare!_

**_WARMTH!_**

Matsumoto had no time to react as he was dragged off the bed, clawing on the wood desperately to remain where he was. He felt the icy fingernails of the demon dig into his skin, raking at his flesh, making it's way to his head…

"No! STOP! NOOOO!"

At the same moment a demonic howl as black as the abyss it crawled out from erupted from the Forest of Death, shattering the souls of the spirits that crawled underground, making the air tremble, falling, crying, unheard by many, intended for only…

_Two_.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

I woke up in the dark room drenched in cold sweat, shaking from head to toe, gasping as I realized I could barely breathe. I clenched at my chest, looking out the window at the full moon whose light no longer felt comforting.

The scream rattled inside my head.

**"I know that voice"**


	2. Akefia : Secrets

**Author's notes:**

A few things, firstly, I did not expect this chapter to drag on so long or be so sad. I expected it to be horrifying but it wasn't even as scary as I imagined it U_U Second, I'm hoping to submit the third and last chapter by Halloween, but that might not be the case. I hope my research is alright. The Twinflower really exists (and in Japan too!) And so does this village. And the novel; Tower of Waves. PM me if you have any questions. Thanks for reading!

**Some warnings for this chapter: Character death, a bit of gore, a lot of one sided Gemshipping (Thief King Bakura x Ryou Bakura)**

* * *

_In traditional Japanese folklore_

_They believed that everyone had a soul or spirit called a reikon._

_When they die, they wait for their proper funeral_

_So that they may join their ancestors._

_However, if the person dies suddenly_

_Like due to murder or suicide…_

_And the proper funerals have not been given to them_

_Or if they are influenced by powerful emotions_

_Likes jealousy, hatred,_

_Sorrow, revenge,_

_Or _

_Love,_

_The reikon transforms into a yurei._

_Which can bridge the gap between the physical world_

_The Yurei exists on earth and if the rituals or the conflicts are not resolved_

_Then the yurei will persist in its haunting._

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

_This would have never happened if I wasn't such a careless fool._

I realized as I sat in his room, reading the novel that gave him the idea to consider such a thing, using only the pale moonlight to illuminate the words.

There was a point in time I could have controlled my tears, even when I first moved here to this village.

Kamikuishiki was a quiet rural village closely situated near the famous Mt. Fuji, where thousands of tourists flock to every year. They usually stayed in fancier places, but on occasion the tourists would lodge in the home of a villager.

I lived alone. My foreign family stayed with me until when I was about sixteen, when they died in a freak accident no one till this day knows the cause of. All was left from that accident was a double crossed scar on my face.

My classmates made fun of me the day I enrolled in the school. They saw my strange tanned skin and decided I would be an easy victim to bully even though I spoke near perfect Japanese.

I didn't cry then.

So why am I crying now?

He was the only one who never made fun of me.

He sat near the back of the classroom, close to the window but not quite. The midmorning sunlight always reflected off of his soft white hair, creating a sort of halo around his head.

He greeted me when no one else dared to make eye contact with me. It was like I was a walking curse. I didn't think of it back then.

But now I was considering if I really was a curse.

I sat down a seat next to him, and he smiled.

"My name is Ryou. Nice to meet you Akefia!"

I honestly had no idea how to respond to his welcome, I was too startled at the fact that someone actually acknowledged me in a positive way.

I nodded shyly, and his grin grew wider.

He offered to walk me home that day, showing me around the scenery of the late autumn season. We were no older than twelve the first day we met.

I quickly warmed up to him after that.

I remember our first time going to explore the forests in our backyard, one of the village elders stopped us to give us a lecture we've been told multiple times.

"Don't go into Aokigahara forest, the sea of trees." Ryou said.

"It's easy to get lost there or the spirits of the dead will eat us up." I crossed my arms.

She nodded, showing us a toothless grin and told us to have fun.

Ryou and I quickly took our bikes and raced towards the forest, exchanging glances of triumph. We parked out bikes near the front of the trail, and skipped inside.

"Do you think we'll see some animals in here? Like deer or raccoons or birds?" I said eagerly.

"We see those almost every day!" Ryou giggled. "I want to see the flowers in bloom, or the fish in the stream."

"Fine. We'll go see your flowers. Where are they anyways?"

"I know where they are." Ryou took my hand and led me deeper into the forest. "You'll just have to keep an eye open."

"How do you know this place so well?" I asked.

"I used to go here all the time. Usually alone, but my friend once led me through it before he moved. He showed me everything. Where the butterflies like to collect pollen, where the oldest trees are, and the paths leading down to the brooks."

He fell silent for a moment and took in a deep breath of air. "I just love it here."

It was hard not to fall in love with the forest. The faint sounds of cicadas and birds chirping in the distance mixed with the gentle wind rustling the tree leaves scattering the light beams on the rarely walked trail made me relax and forget about everything. Everything but Ryou standing beside me.

He showed me around as his friend once showed him. I poked my head into an abandoned fox den and a snake suddenly shot out of it.

I fell back, screaming in alarm while Ryou laughed at my expression. The garden snake disappeared into nearby bushes. I felt as if my legs were made of jelly as he helped me stand up.

"That was horrifying!" I gasped.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that snakes sometimes make their homes in the abandoned nests of other animals." He had a hard time keeping his face straight.

I pouted, folding my arms but felt like joining in with his laugh before I fell on my bottom again. Ryou's laughter grew louder and he fell down too, beside me. The forest seemed alive at that time, the noises sounded in unison with our laughter.

We reached our final destination in the evening; the intense glow of the sinking sun outlined every detail of the trees and the thickets. Ryou lightly treaded across the shallow stream, scaring away some fish, to the other side, where he said the flowers he wanted to see where located.

I followed his steps, watching carefully how he gracefully leapt from one rock to the other. I didn't do so well, slipping every two rocks, almost losing my balance on one. I sure didn't want to embarrass myself twice in one day.

We arrived in a small clearing, and Ryou began searching for his flowers.

"They're pink." He said. "They're usually paired up together, two flowers on one stem."

"Like twins right?" I asked, looking around high and low for them.

Ryou suddenly stopped and blinked. I raised my head at his sudden behavior.

"Y-yeah I guess you're right. I never thought of them like that before." He resumed his searching, still dazed from my comment.

The sun sank deeper into the horizon and I saw the first few specks of stars peek through the sunset sky.

"I'm not finding any…" Ryou said, voice laced with disappointment. "We should go home soon."

I didn't want to go back with Ryou sounding so distraught. I vowed to myself that I would find the flowers no matter what. And that's when I spotted it on the corner of my eyes.

"Come on Akefia." Ryou called after me, starting to make his way to the stream again.

"Hold on a second, Ryou." I walked up to him and took his hand, placing the single flower I found in his palms. "That's all I could find." I smiled slightly. "I- I hope its fine."

The small pink petals tenderly rested on his hands, and he looked up at me.

I didn't know how he would react until he threw his hands around my neck, giving me a hug. Surprised, I took a step back, my face heating up.

"Thank you!" He cried with joy, backing away looking at the delicate flower in his hands. "Oh, they're wonderful. They're usually incredibly rare to find… I havn't seen one in three years."

"Well here you go." I responded simply. "You should keep it safe."

He nodded eagerly. "I will… Thank you."

It was during those days I truly felt innocence and happiness. Spending my time with Ryou, going over to each other's houses and biking to the forests. We were outcasts to the other children in the villages but we found solace in each other. It was during those days I called him my very best friend.

I thought we were going to stay friends. I thought those days would last longer. But a few years later, we both began to fall, piece by piece, in our own ways. The day before the dominos started to tumble was when we found the ugly truth about our village.

It wasn't uncommon for forest guards to be coming in and out of our village. Most of them lived here. I remembered that they told the children to never wander into dark or places they didn't know.

I didn't know that a simple game of Hide and Seek between us would cause so much trauma.

Ryou suggested it. It was a great idea, a game we've never played before. There were so many places to hide; we could have spent an entire day playing it. But it only lasted ten minutes.

I was seeking while Ryou was hiding. I checked our houses and both of our parents shook their heads when I asked where he was hiding with a smile. I knew they knew something and I kept on searching.

I came across an older part of the village, where many ancient houses surrounded a temple like building. No one came here anymore, so I figured Ryou might have snuck into one of the houses. It was sure dark here…

After searching in every hiding spot on the outside, I was just about to take my leave until I heard a sudden screech.

I stopped and turned on my ankle, facing the giant temple, where another scream came from the inside.

"Ryou!"

I tore the door open, running inside the dusty pitch black hall. My heart dropped when I heard another scream, followed by sobbing.

I ran towards the sound, realizing that it was coming beneath me. I felt the floor for a handle and opened it, seeing torches illuminating the staircase leading down. I ran down the old staircase, swatting at the cobwebs attacking my face.

"Ryou are you there?!"

"Akefia!"

His eyes bulged wide with fear, an expression I've never seen before on the boy. Ryou, although you couldn't tell by his soft features, was someone that was never scared by anything. Not the worst horror movies, nor the darkness of night. And yet he was terrified.

He ran into my arms and I clutched him tightly, burying my head in his hair. I could feel him shaking, sobbing against my chest.

"What's wrong?" I tried to hide the fear in my voice, softly stroking his locks.

Ryou slowly looked up at me, shaking his head and swallowing.

"Death." He whispered, tears arising to the surface of his eyes again. "They're everywhere."

I turned my head in the direction where he ran from. All of a sudden the breath in my lungs were knocked out by a smell I didn't notice before. I almost doubled over and wretched if it weren't for Ryou beside me. By the dim light of the flames from the torches, I could make it out faintly. Near the end of the dungeon halls, where there was no more light, was the silhouette of naked corpses, piling on top of one another.

I didn't understand the words horror until then.

No.

I _thought_ I knew horror then.

Wrenching my head away from the gore, I beckoned Ryou towards the staircase where he slowly made his way up. I followed him behind, closing the cellar door and we walked towards the light of the temple entrance. We were immediately greeted by a guard.

"What were you kids doing in there?!" He demanded furiously, his mustache quivering with anger.

Ryou sputtered and buried his face in his hands, sobbing again while I gave the guard a scowl. Hoping he caught my drift to leave us alone.

He curled his lips and began to walk away. "I'll make sure your parents know about this…"

_To tell you the truth. _

After that day, I don't think I've ever seen Ryou genuinely happy ever again.

Because on the day that followed, his mother and sister died in a car accident.

I didn't see Ryou at school for a week.

He didn't come outside for even longer.

I always went up to his door, asking his father if he was doing alright. He'd look at me coldly before replying that Ryou was fine then closing the door. I brought presents for him and left them at their doorsteps when his father didn't answer.

I found them in the dumpster a day later.

The only gift he didn't throw out was a book I found lying around the attic of my house.

Nami no To, Tower of Waves was an old novel written in the 1960's. It must have been a popular novel back then, maybe my mother had read it and left it there. Perhaps a book would cheer him up.

My mistake there was never reading it myself.

During the harsh winter that year, I lived alone. School was cancelled due to the snow and even if it wasn't I wouldn't go anyways. Ryou and I havn't spoke in three months. I didn't go out as often as I used to. No one dared ask about my scar or what happened to my parents. The police came and went after the incident and left the house to myself.

I was so lonely.

I don't think I was genuinely happy afterwards as well.

Our friendship fell apart.

But… I still cared about him.

I remember seeing him outside again. He walked to school like a ghost, avoiding everyone else. His skin was paler than usual, his eyes had sunk into his sockets, and he was completely sleep deprived. He no longer met my eyes during class. He always disappeared by the end of school.

I couldn't take not talking to him any longer.

When the snow began to melt, I biked into the forest again. I ran into the trail, missing the summer sounds of songbirds and cicadas, across the abandoned dens, the ancient trees and the once frozen streams.

_The Twinflower…_

_I will find one for you. No longer how long it takes._

I began to dig through the snow that was left in the clearing, the early morning air cleared the breath out of my lungs, and the soft sunlight did nothing to warm me up. My fingers ran frozen as I tore through leaves and branches, creating scratches. Soon the ice was littered with specks of my blood as I continued to search, from one clearing to the next.

The sun was setting on the horizon when my bloodied hands delicately grasped the pink bell shaped flowers parted from one stem.

Arriving at Ryou's doorstep, my trembling right hand pounded on the door multiple times.

"Ryou!" I yelled. "I know you're in here!"

My left arm trembled from the cold dulling the pain of the scratches. I refused to give up.

"Please, Ryou!" I knocked again.

I stopped after a while, leaning in, panting heavily.

"I won't go until you let me in…" I shouted one last time before I sat on the doorstep, looking down on the blood stained flower.

The door hesitantly creaked open when the first stars began to peek through the night sky.

"Akefia…?" His voice was no more above a hushed whisper, like an infant trying out a new word for the first time.

I slowly stood up, taking in his features face to face. He looked worse than the last time I saw him at school.

_But he was still so beautiful…_

I shook my head at the sudden thought, shoving my hand in front of him.

"What…" He looked at my hand, taking a step back.

I swallowed slightly and walked towards him, his doe brown eyes widening. I placed my right hand on his shoulder and leaned in, placing the flower in his hair. He gasped and reached for it, staring at the bloodied torn petals and the crooked stem.

He began to shake.

And then he began to cry.

Without hesitation, I embraced him gently, closing my hand on top of his as he began to cry on my shoulder. I softly patted his back as his sobs grew quieter, standing there, waiting for his response.

"I- I missed you."

"As did I…" I smiled into his hair.

"You're so good at finding things, Akefia. I'm sorry, I…" He broke apart from our hug and stared into my eyes. "It's been such a long time. W-what…"

His hand reached for the right eye, softly stroking the scar on my face.

"When did you…?"

"It's nothing. Honestly." I held his hand, and nuzzled it gently, feeling his warmth. "I'm just worried about you."

"I'll be fine…" He looked away. "You… You live alone now don't you? I've heard it from the others."

"Yeah, it's no big deal." I lied. "Did you manage to read the novel I gave you?"

"No." He responded after a pause. "My father took it away."

Ryou must have noticed my disappointment since he quickly added. "I tried desperately to persuade him from throwing your gifts away, but he didn't listen. I'm sorry."

"It's no big deal." I sighed. "I'm just glad we're talking again."

He gave me a soft smile.

"Me too."

His father wasn't at the house that day, or for a while it seems. I spent that night with Ryou, comforting him while he told me about what happened in the past months. We shared a futon together while he made us some hot chocolate. Staring out at the moon through the windows I wondered if this was really how it should be. As silence fell throughout the night, Ryou fell asleep in my embrace, mumbling in his sleep. I really did think it was going to be better from that point on. With Ryou in my arms, we can make it through together.

I couldn't help myself to look at him in the early morning light realizing really just how much I cared about my friend. I guess I couldn't consider him just a friend now, he meant the world to me.

However, it appeared that I wasn't the one in Ryou's life that he cared about the most.

The next day, he disappeared again. His house was completely abandoned when I went to check. I couldn't sleep that night until I saw the lights in his house turn on again.

He visited me the day after that, smiling sadly.

"Ryou, you worried me from your disappearance yesterday!" I said as he stepped inside.

"I'm sorry Akefia…" He muttered. "You should stop worrying about me."

"How can I do that?"

He shook his head slowly. "If there's anything you'd like from me… My furniture, my house, my money. You can just take it all."

My heartbeat sped up at his suggestion. "W-what are you saying… I don't want any of that."

_The only thing I'd ever want is you beside me._

"I'm serious 'Kefia." He stubbornly replied. "They don't mean anything else to me. Take it all. You have a life to live."

"Hey Ryou, don't be talking like that." I stepped forwards to let him into my arms but he backed away, fists clenched tightly. "If you want, we could go to the forest again…" I tried to smile. "And I'll find you some Twinflowers that seem to always make you so happy."

"No!" Ryou lashed out, his screech echoing inside my house. "Would you just stop it Akefia? Why can't you let it go?!"

He started to choke up.

"This isn't about me anymore. Can't you just start thinking about yourself for once! You don't understand…"

"Ryou…"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing at that time. I didn't understand. What had pushed him over the edge to act like this?

"Forget about me Akefia. I promise I will do the same to you."

He turned his back on me and walked away into the distance.

Why didn't I cry then?

Why couldn't I save his life…

By the time I regained my senses, the sun slowly fell.

I sprinted towards his house, shocked that he had left the door unlocked. The rooms were eerily silent. I went up to his room, looking at the laptop he had on his bed, right next to the novel I gave him.

Did he just start reading it now?

But the bookmark was on the last page…

I picked it up and quickly skimmed the last page.

And suddenly I knew exactly where he was going to be and what he was going to do.

By the time I was on my bike and riding towards the place we were absolutely forbidden to go to, the faint stars peaked out timidly from behind the night sky.

I prayed to whatever gods there were in the world that I wouldn't be too late.

That I wouldn't be too late to save the only person I cared for in the entire world.

His bicycle was lying to the side of his final destination.

The forest loomed before me like a gigantic beast.

_Aokigahara Jukai._

_Ryou…_

Blinded by the leaves and the darkness that fell around me, I ran into the forest, blinded by my fear of losing him.

Please… Don't do this…

Silence. There was nothing but silence and the treading of my footsteps. My breath evaporated in the cold harsh air of the sea of trees, I had no idea where I was going. I stumbled over roots and ran into bushes. Upwards, all I knew was that I was going up.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally found a mark to where he might be. A red thread hanged from one tree to another.

"Shit!" I cursed, fully understanding what it stood for. Uncertainty. Ryou had doubts about ending his own life. If I could catch up to him quickly enough, I could change his mind. And we could go home together.

Together.

I followed the thread, hand treading across it as I picked up my pace. The full moon glittered through the trees. I could make out shapes on the forest floor, just ever so closely.

And that's… That's when I spotted it on the corner of my eyes.

"_You're so good at finding things, Akefia."_

There was nothing to describe the feeling in my frozen heart at the moment I saw Ryou's body hang limply from a tree branch with a rope lodged tightly around his neck.

It might not be too late… It can't be too late!

I climbed on the tree, pulling out a pocketknife, I began cutting at the branch.

_Damn it. Damn it! Please…_

The branch snapped under Ryou's weight and I fell down, crawling towards him. I leaned over him, my tears making it hard to concentrate on cutting the noose around his neck.

_Suicide never just kills one person._

"Ryou!" I called his name out desperately, sobbing incoherently. "Please, wake up!"

The rope wouldn't budge, my hands were trembling too much. I pressed my ear against his heart…

_The saddest metronome in the world was fading away…_

I listened to him die.

"Someone!" I looked around the forest of death desperately. "Someone… Please… Help."

_Ryou…_

I sobbed into his chest, my arm wrapping around his corpse, holding his cold body closely. I propped his head up and kissed him on the forehead, knowing that he never felt the same way to me as I felt about him.

It didn't matter anymore.

My hand trailed over to his, clasping it tightly. There was… something that he was holding. I looked over and saw a note clenched in his pale right hand. I tried to open his hand gently but it wouldn't budge. I wrenched it open, tearing the note from his grasp.

In silence, bending over his body, I skimmed over the note quickly.

"Ryou." I whispered, shaking all over. "You never opened your heart to me…"

His hurried writing told about a person he wanted to be with desperately. So much that he would be willing to do this. And the name,

The name was directly written on the top of the note.

I felt rage grew in the pit of my stomach at the unfamiliar name. Even if it was someone I've never known, I was furious at him for causing this death.

_How could he do this?_

I slipped the note into my pocket. No one should ever know about this man. In Ryou's notes, he had made him sound like a hero. The light at the end of his tunnel. It shouldn't be like this. Nobody should have gotten in the way of him and me

Suddenly a flashlight was shone directly at my face.

Two teenagers, around the same age as I was, looked at me, horrified. I had no time to say anything before one of them screamed,

"Get away from him!"

I didn't think twice about running away into the forest. The branches created cuts and scrapes around my face as they hit me as I sprinted downhill. There was nothing in my mind that I thought about other than Ryou, and his note. The silent chill of the forest made my fear grow. It was confirmed when I bumped into another body.

At first I thought it was a forest patrol until I took a better look at it.

A dead body hung from a high branch, the face directly in my line of sight, its rotting flesh and hollowed out skull gazed at me, its never ending grin of blackened skin around his teeth greeted my presence. I fell backwards, letting out a choked scream. The clothes on the corpse were still intact, while everything else slowly rotted in midair.

I ran out of the horrid black trees and threw up on the side of the road, clutching my stomach, leaving Ryou in the forest of death.

_What have I done?_

I rode back to Kamikuishiki village in silence, the images of our childhood flashing through my head.

I arrived back in the village without a sound, late as it is. Instead of heading for my own house, I went inside Ryou's. I ran up the stairs and grabbed his novel, The Tower of Waves from his bed. I pulled up a chair beside the table and scanned the room.

_It smells just like him…_

Then, from outside the windows, without any warning, what I could only describe as a demonic scream tore though the night, and into the depths of my heart. I felt it coursing through my body with fear and panic. I struggled to breath, doubling over the table.

Was that?

It couldn't be.

I quickly peaked outside to see if anyone else was disturbed by the sound. There was no reaction from the few people still milling around in the streets.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

_Thump._

I looked back at the book. I sat in his room, reading the novel that gave him the idea to consider such a thing, using only the pale moonlight to illuminate the words. I stayed up that night, sleep being the last thing on my mind.

_Thump._

I read from chapter to chapter, cover to end, with cold sweat beginning to trickle down my forehead from the realization of what might have persuaded him to kill himself.

_Thump._

Was he really so foolish enough to believe that the story reflected part of his life enough to do this?

_Thump._

I threw the book down, and unfolded his last note from my pocket and read that over as well.

_Thump._

As I got towards the end I began to wonder…

_Thump._

Was my heartbeat really that loud?

…

I looked up.

"…"

A silent figure stood in the doorway.

It didn't say anything nor did it move. Forest leaves decorated its hair; it was bent over, arms limply falling around its body.

It was soaked with blood from head to toe, scattered with ripped clothes and the heavy stench of death.

It was so familiar.

It draped a long black trench coat around its shoulders…

"Whose coat is that?" I whispered to it, frozen in place.

Nothing.

It didn't breath.

It slowly tilted its head upwards.

A single tear fell from its face.

And its eyes,

I didn't have time to see its eyes…

"Ryou-"

.

..

…

_You promised you would forget about me._


	3. Ryou : Twins

**_Author's notes:_**

Phew! Last chapter! That took a whole two days to write! I hope you all enjoy it, but it's**_ really_** long. The longest chapter I've written so far. I made it long because I had to properly justify Ryou, since he's the pretty much the eye of the hurricane. So the questions should be answered in this chapter (But knowing you guys, you'll find something there that I didn't xD )

I also went back to the first chapter and added a few things. I see a lot of editing for this fic in the future... Plus a change in the summary. And maybe the title. Oh boi.

Enjoy the fic, and thanks so much for sticking around through all three chapters! You all are amazing!

Hugs and love for everyone!

If you find any errors in the myths or descriptions or details please PM me!

**Warning: Long chapter, Character death... uhm... One sided Tendershipping (Yami Bakura x Ryou Bakura) and Gemshipping (Thief King Bakura x Ryou Bakura) with a little bit of Thiefshipping (Yami Bakura x Marik Ishtar)**

_I'm pretty sure you all know the trend_

_Of star-crossed lovers and suicide._

_In the Legend of the Milky Way lovers,_

_A silk weaver princess and a Sheppard boy fell in love._

_Unfortunately, the princess' father forbids them from seeing each other again. _

_To help the two lovers, magpies from heaven,_

_Every once a year,_

_On July the seventh,_

_Build a bridge across heaven_

_To form a bridge across the Milky Way_

_So they can reunite for that one day._

_In another mythology,_

_When two cross lovers suicide,_

_They are reincarnated in the next life_

_As twins_.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It shouldn't have been like this at all.

My hand is shivering, trembling along with the rest of my body, my mind numb without a thought fear that if I thought about anything else, I'll just break apart. Fall into pieces unable to put myself back together. Become an even bigger mess than what I already was.

I watched my misty breath disappear in the cold night, watched my pen scribble along the crumpled paper, the harsh marks imprinting on the messy thing, cursing and shaking it with rage when the ink won't flow. The candlelight made the shadows flicker ominously. I wonder what I looked with the shadows dancing around my face. I haven't looked at myself in a few days. I don't think I would have recognized the lifeless boy in front of the mirror. Even Akefia...

No, don't think of him.

_ Don't you even dare._

I couldn't get everything on paper of course, but I tried to explain. I tried to explain everything that happened to me in the times we were separated. I hope he understands. I know he will.

My family moved to the small village of Kamikuishiku, a small place with peaceful inhabitants surrounded by nature and fresh air, when I was just five years old. It was completely different from Tokyo, where I was born.

I remember seeing the scenery change from high buildings and wires to the vast blue skies, fields of grass and distant trees. Amane could barely control her excitement, kicking her legs impatiently, occasionally grumbling the inevitable "Are we there yet?"

My mother would smile back at us from the front seat reassuringly. Her face brightened up like the afternoon sun. A sight I wish I could once see again.

I never had any friends back in Tokyo, and the thought of going to school on the first day unnerved me. It was the first day of the first grade. All the students looked very well behaved when I walked into the classroom and wrote down my name on the chalkboard. They laughed when I dropped the chalk and wrote a character in my name sideways.

"My name is R-Ryou..." I bowed awkwardly. "Nice to meet you all."

I became rather distant with the other kids. They and I had nothing in common. It was fine though. I was used to it.

Although I never expected for him, on that day, to approach me so boldly. By a small pond on the way home, I watched the colorful koi fish swim around my reflection, minding their own business as if they had nothing to do with the rest of the world at all. I took in my own image, a small, slightly chubby pale boy with strange white hair.

Then I saw that image duplicate.

I looked up, surprised to see someone else kneeling beside me by the pond, his expression in a mischievous grin as he watched me curiously. I blinked in confusion, wondering if I was still staring at my reflection.

"Ryou isn't it?"

I nodded, slightly startled by his appearance.

"You look so strange!" He laughed, taking a strand of my silver hair in his small fingers, studying it for a moment before chuckling again, looking at me. "I've never seen someone else with this hair colour."

I had no idea how to respond to his strange greeting. I was way too startled at someone actually coming up to me and starting a conversation.

I blushed involuntarily as he fumbled with my hair. His grin grew wider.

"My name is Bakura." He said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too, Bakura." I replied softly.

"Hey, did you realize something?" He pointed at our reflections.

"What?"

"We kind of look like..." I studied our images as he trailed off. The same shade of alabaster locks with pale skin and a warm brown shade of eyes. A strange feeling enveloped my body, and to this day I still did not have a description for it. Whether it was destiny or some sort of sick coincidence, I knew from that day I couldn't have ever looked at us the same way ever again.

"...Twins."

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

Bakura lived near my house, almost next door. He was two years older than me, but his appearance gave away nothing. The villagers were almost shocked to see us walking together from school. Our classmates often asked if we were related.

"No, it's just a coincidence that we look so similar!" Bakura would say, smirking. "But isn't it cool? We could get away with a whole bunch of stuff if people confused the two of us."

It was some point in the time we spent together that my shyness slowly eroded away. He really did feel like family to me, we spent almost all of our time together. Bakura was my guardian. He had an almost cocky personality that clashed with my own. We were different parts of the same person, yet never truly similar.

"I wonder sometimes Bakura..." I mused one time, sitting on the porch of his house watching the stars together, the crisp air of the night cleared my head of almost all thoughts. "If the situation was different, if there was a reset button on life, do you think we would have been reborn as real twins?"

"That's hard to answer Ryou." He frowned, pausing to think about for a while. "For one, life has no reset button. And even if there was, what are the chances? Maybe destiny just has something in mind for the two of us..."

"Whatever it may be, I'm just glad you're here with me." I closed my eyes and smiled. A true friend by my side was something I had always needed.

"Tomorrow, I'll take you to some place mystical."

"Wonderland?" I giggled, my fingers curled up to my mouth.

"Better!" He challenged. "And realistic. It's not far from here if we ride our bikes. A large forest, filled with all sorts of stuff you won't find in that big city you came from."

"Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah. I'll show you everything there is to know about the magic in this area." Bakura yawned, his breathing growing softer.

"We should head inside, it's too cold a night to be falling asleep inside.' I started getting up.

"Hmm..." He opened one eye to study me. 'You're right. Unless..."

"Unless?" I stopped.

"You come here beside me so we'll both be warm."

I hesitated, feeling the familiar heat rise up in my cheeks. I found it suddenly very hard to deny his request. Instead of speaking, I slowly made my way to his spot, edging closer towards him. When he felt me beside him again, he closed his eyes and looped an arm around me to pull me close. I leaned against him, realizing that he was right as usual...

It was really warm.

The children of the village were allowed to ride their bikes anywhere around the village and the surrounding landscape when they were nine years old. Bakura taught me how when he turned nine, and offered me rides back to our houses every day. Before we set off towards our destination, an elderly woman hobbled towards us, looking at our bikes, then at us.

"Are we in trouble?" I asked, glancing back at Bakura.

She slowly shook her head and pointed at the thicket of trees behind us.

"I'm sure Bakura knows by now, but since this is the first time you're going out venturing by yourself, you should know about the forest of Aokigahara."

"Ao... ki ga what?"

"The Forest of Death." Bakura bluntly replied. "A scary forest that attracts dozen of idiots every year."

"D-Death?" That did not sound pleasant at all.

"Yeah, and it's really easy to get lost in as well."

"The spirits roam there as well." The elder pointed out. "The angry spirits of the dead seeking revenge will not trouble you specifically unless you get in their way."

I instinctively clutched Bakura's arm, looking at him nervously. I didn't mind the thought of corpses or dead spirits, but the thought of normal people. Regular people with lives and family, walking numbly towards the forest with the only thought of death. Death upon themselves.

"We're not going there... Right Bakura?"

"Of course not!" He shook his head roughly. "Like I said before, only stupid tourists would go there and die such a horrible death. What do they think awaits them in the afterlife? Hell if I'd know what will happen to their souls but their carnage would attract bears or wolves. Not such a pleasant way to go now is it?"

The elder nodded, glancing at me. I didn't want to think about such a horrible fate. She began to walk away when I lowered my head, letting go of Bakura.

"Have you ever been there though?"

"Never have, never will." He shook his head definitively. "Don't let that old hag get to you Ryou. She does that to scare every child that goes out. You'll get used to it."

"I suppose..." I tried to smile, putting on my helmet and getting on my bike.

"I promise." Bakura said, taking the leading with his bike on the road.

We biked into a forest trail, surrounded by towering trees and rustling green leaves. Bakura jumped off his bike and ran ahead suddenly, his footsteps against the grass rustling.

"Wait up!" I shouted after him, trying to keep up as well. He showed no signs of slowing down until we arrived at a particularly thick bundle of trees with vines sticking out everywhere. I dodged and weaved but had my foot stuck in a root and fell onto the muddy forest floor.

"Yuck, Bakura!" I protested, trying to wipe the mud off of my shirt. His laughter came from above making me turn my head towards his direction. He was sitting on a thick tree branch, smiling at my clumsiness.

"Beautiful isn't it?" He said, loud enough for me to hear.

"I wouldn't use that word to describe my current situation you know!" I pouted, slowly making my way up the tree, slipping on the rough bark occasionally from the mud that followed me on my shoes.

Bakura grinned, swinging his legs off of the branch.

"What's so good about this stupid tree anyways?" I grunted, arriving at the branch where he sat, trying to steady myself as I lowered myself into sitting beside him.

He was silent, as with the entire forest, for that split second of peace.

I looked ahead.

I didn't realize that I had climbed so high. We saw the forest canopy, barely skimming the sky, tracing out green and blue outlines, mimicking water with earth. A long winding stream flowed underneath, snaking its way through the forest, isolating a small island like clearing.

In the moments of quiet, I took in deep breaths of air, slowly relaxing beside Bakura. It was truly magical, as everything he described. It wasn't long before I felt a sense of peace and belonging with the forest itself.

"This is the oldest tree in the forest." My companion declared.

"And how do you know that?" I tried to stifle my laughter at his bold claim.

He looked insulted for a moment, before responding, "It's the tallest and thickest one here! I've checked. It has to be the oldest. Plus I'm pretty sure there's a legend behind it…"

"Okay Bakura... But you're two years older than me, yet we're the same height. How can anyone tell which one of us is older?"

"Hey, no way we're the same height. Last time I checked I was just a bit taller. Besides, they'll look at my maturity. Just like this tree, I sense that it's incredibly mature for its age."

I didn't respond, letting him enjoy his own logic for a while. I don't think he minded the noise at all. Besides the sound of two kids chattering away, there was the chirping of cicadas and the calling of birds mingled with the bubbling of the brooks below and the rustling of leaves everywhere.

"Take a look there." He pointed towards the clearing I had seen earlier. "That's another one of my favourite spots in the forest."

"What's over there?"

"You'll see." Without warning he hopped down to the branch below, swinging down vine from vine like a monkey.

This time, he waited for me to get off the tree before leading me even thicker inside the dense forest. He must have escaped here many times ago since he knew the paths so well.

"Be careful of those dens." He held my hand as I gingerly made it past a few holes in the ground.

"Fox dens?" I inquired.

"Yeah, but they've been abandoned for a while. Snakes like to make their homes inside now."

"Someone will get a nasty surprise if they poke their head inside."

"And over there, do you see those patches of wildflower? Butterflies gather there every spring and fall, I'll take you here again when that happens so you can see them dance."

The way he had described everything took my breath away. He seemed to know the entire forest like the back of his hand. Whether it was the radiating prescience of the forest of the comforting aura of Bakura beside me, I felt just right staying here. This wouldn't be my last trip here. We would visit almost every week.

We bounded across a couple of slippery rocks to get to the clearing. I watched Bakura hop from one to another like a rabbit, while I got my sneakers wet in the stream. Maybe I should just avoid the rocks entirely. I sure didn't want to embarrass myself twice in one day.

"Take a look Ryou." He smiled, gesturing to the small clearing. Small pale pink flowers scattered around it, growing high and low. It surrounded us with small bushes littered with the tiny delicate flowers, two sharing a stem. "They grow in pairs."

_ Like twins right...?_

"I found them a couple of weeks ago by accident; they're really something aren't they?" He picked up a few and placed them on the palms of my hand. "We should get them some water and put them at home!"

"In that case, we should get as much as possible!"

By the sunset, two kids rode their bikes back home trying to stuff as much flowers and leaves inside their front baskets and hands. We raced into our houses, placing the delicate flowers inside small vases filled with water. When we couldn't find enough vases around the house, we offered to put them inside other people's places. A hotel generously accepted our donation. It didn't look like much compared to the towering trees or fluorescent wildflowers but it was enough. It was enough for everyone to appreciate their insignificant appearance.

There was a point in time where I almost stopped thinking of Bakura as my twin. He grew taller, his hair grew longer and messy, his features more sharp and angular than my soft face. We were more distinguishable, and no one had troubles telling us apart. We still hanged around each other solely, enjoying each other's company. But there was another reason I didn't want to think of him as my twin, or my sibling.

I started to fall for him, as a friend to another friend.

"Ryou, I want to show you something!" Bakura beckoned me over one day after school. In his hand was a red ball of yarn.

"Are you going to knit me something Bakura?" I inquired, curious with this red string.

"No. That's what elders are for." He scoffed, unraveling the yarn and handing the end to me. "I heard of a legend, a myth, about the red string."

I studied the yarn closely in my hand, while Bakura searched for the other end.

"They say if you tie one end to someone's pinky, like this..." He tied the thin string onto my finger. "And the other end, to me." He did the same to himself. "The red string of fate will never break!"

"What if I cut it?" I grinned mischievously. "Or the yarn runs out?'

"It's a story Ryou! Stop killing the fun." He frowned, yanking back the ball of yarn from my hands. "Anyways, the thread may bend and stretch, or be completely jumbled... But it'll never break. And we will find each other on the other side."

It seemed ridiculous at the time, being in love at only ten years old? However, looking back at my emotion towards him, I realized. Maybe it was. Or at least a time where I felt about him differently.

I know I fell in love with him because my heart broke into pieces when he moved away one day without any notice.

I knocked on his door desperately to call for him back. I searched everywhere for him, inside the forest, climbing the giant tree to see if he was just hiding.

_ It's just a big prank isn't it? You always try to scare me._

"Come out Bakura! It's not funny!" I shouted, hearing my own trembling sound echo throughout the forest. Tears filled my eyes as I ran into our clearing. I tore the innocent flowers from their bushes, casting them away into the stream. _Every last one of them._

The flowers never grew back after I ripped their bushes apart. I checked every week when I took my bike down there alone hoping that they would forgive me.

My parents had to drag myself from his door that late evening, when I told them I didn't want anything but Bakura back. And it was true...

I don't think I've lived a day without that wish.

I don't know where he had gone to, where his father had taken him, how I could contact him. If I'll see him again ever.

_ In this world filled with so much bodies, will I ever be able to find him in the masses?_

_ I miss my twin. It felt like a part of me had been ripped out of my soul._

But life went on.

And fate or destiny or whatever had tried to replace that part of my broken heart.

When I was twelve, a few days before school opened again, a new family moved into Bakura's home. They had dark toned skin, something that drew curious looks and admiring gazes from the villagers. The parents had a foreign tone to their Japanese, but their son spoke it almost perfectly.

I watched him go up to the chalkboard on the first day, unsure of himself as he wrote his name, looking around the class as they snickered at his appearance and his strange behaviors.

I was the first person to greet him.

'My name is Ryou. Nice to meet you Akefia!'

_I don't know why I did it. _

Perhaps it was because he reminded me so much of myself.

He was tall, strong, with dustier hair than my own and so different than Bakura. I didn't mind being friends with him, he was nice to me, we laughed at the same sort of stuff, and he was almost protective...

I didn't like that familiar emotion around him as it was around Bakura.

And yet, Akefia managed to find a single flower, twinflower as he called it, when I first took him into the clearing, when they've all but abandoned me. I thought it was because they couldn't forgive me for what I've done to them. Although to Akefia, they opened up to him.

"Thank you!" I hugged him closely, a genuine show of my gratitude.

He was the friend I yearned for, someone I needed beside me. My parents didn't worry about me anymore after Akefia came into my life. Still, I knew that I couldn't let myself grow attached to him. He just wasn't Bakura.

For my fifteenth birthday, my parents bought me a laptop. They told me I could talk with anyone around the world without having to meet them in real life. They said if Akefia and I even got separated we would still have some sort of contact. There were two problems to their statement. One, Akefia didn't have a laptop. Two, it wasn't him I was thinking about.

I began playing with my laptop with a simple search. Kamikuishiki. I scrolled on the page it had on this site talking about the areas around Mt. Fuji. My eyes lingered towards the link for Aokigahara Forest.

_Stupid. Bakura would have laughed at you for even thinking about it._

I found something that sparked my interest. A temple of secrets buried right inside of my village. I recognized the building at the far corner of my village, where old pots and abandoned brick houses littered the empty pavements. Once again, I found my thoughts lingering back to my old friend. What if he knew about the secret? Of course he did, Bakura knew everything.

There was a thought I hadn't thought of until Akefia and I played Hide and Go Seek around the entire village when I had brought it up. I learned that there was a temple in the older area where there wasn't so much people milling around. I wanted to go check it out with an excuse. My friend had bought it without a second thought.

I entered the long dark hallway without hesitating, descending down the narrow staircase and into the torch lit dungeon. A sudden stench hit me in the lungs, and I doubled over, unfamiliar with the smell. It was a mixture of rotting leaves and burning... I didn't know, something smelled burnt. Was this the secret people were keeping from us?

It was then I saw the mound of corpses on top of each other. I looked at it with horrifying fascination, some skulls laced with maggots crawling inside the eye sockets and flesh still loosely dangling, charred and black. They were naked, mouths agape, screaming for something or something that they would never find. I saw the rope burns around their necks.

_ Idiots who venture off into the Black Forest..._

_ Never to be seen or heard of again._

_ What if...?_

I suddenly felt my gut lurching forwards, I stepped closer, hand covering my mouth from the growing stench. I scanned around the bodies frantically, any young bodies, any pale skinned ones, any...

_ Snow white hair?_

I screeched inhumanely when a body began to move near the top. It slid against the others, pushing its way to the front. It must have been the weight shifting against itself, occasionally shuffling its formation but that was not how I saw it. I saw its arms grabbing the other bodies to make its way forwards. I saw its horrible black mouth screaming along with me. I noticed the mane of white hair.

I tore away from the corpses straight into Akefia's arms, sobbing into his chest, grabbing him tightly. The flash of white was all it took for my composure to break and cling onto Akefia so desperately, sobbing so frailly.

_I should have noticed it was a woman's body before I saw the look in his eyes._

Those dark red eyes were so familiar. I've seen them somewhere before. I realized that they were my own. My eyes whenever I looked at Bakura.

I locked myself in my room, alone with my laptop, going onto this general forum I had found to talk to people. During the night, there was only one person there alone in the chatroom. I talked to him for comfort.

'How are you?' He typed.

'Shaken. Feeling horrible.' I responded.

'That sucks, what is it? A test result? Girlfriend breaking up with you?'

'I wish it was that simple.'

'You don't want to talk about it?'

'I'm sorry, it's something that isn't so easy to explain.'

'That's fine. I get that a lot. If it wasn't my father pushing me so hard in discipline school I would still be back living an easy life in a small town instead of studying my ass off everyday for some stupid university.'

'I live in a small village. It's not an easy life for me.'

'You have friends there don't you? Ones you've been with for your entire life.'

'I did. I do, but when one moved, they took a part of my heart along with them.'

'I never had that problem with moving so much. Albeit, I've never a real close friend. Just one that I remember... Faintly, when I still lived back in that place so close to Fuji.'

_ What?_

'My memory is just terrible these days!' He continued. 'With so much formulas and vocabulary I have to study for, I can barely remember what happened last week.'

'Hold on, you lived in Fuji once?' My breathing sped up unconsciously.

'Near Fuji, I think it was. I wish I could visit that place again, I sort of miss that untamed wilderness you know? You don't get that same feeling with the concrete jungle of the city over here.'

'Do you remember the name of the village?'

'Uhhhhhh... I'm sorry, I've moved so many places after that I don't think I can.'

'It's fine.'

'Why, do you live there?'

'Yeah I do. We might have seen each other around before.'

'That's kind of unlikely, I didn't play with other people. I still don't.'

'We must have at least caught glimpses of each other!'

'Well... I do have strange hair. Uhg, I hate it.'

_ ..._

'White?' I whispered as I entered the word.

'Yeah. I should get it cut, it's grown quite long now.'

Tears started blurring my vision of the screen.

'It's such a weird colour, like I understand black hair, but why would anyone have white hair like this?'

I sobbed quietly as I saw his words continue on the screen.

'But how did you know?'

_Bakura... _

'I don't think I've met really anyone with that colour.'

_Is that really you?_

I heard of a knocking on my bedroom door. Frantically brushing the tears away, I closed the screen of my laptop, crawling under my covers.

"Come in!"

My mother peered inside, smiling at me.

"Just checking in on you, Ryou."

"I'm fine, mum.' I rolled onto my side."

"Don't forget to wake up early tomorrow for our road trip to Tokyo."

"Wouldn't dream of it..."

As soon as she left, I sat bolted upright, searching for his username.

"I'm sorry, I have to go! Is there anyway I can speak to you again?"

"Yeah," He responded. "Here's my email, I'll get back to you as soon as possible if you want to talk. Good night."

"Good night." The screen faded to black.

"Bakura..." I mumbled, feeling a familiar warmth, in the first time in ages.

_ The same warmth I would never feel again._

Not after losing my mother and sister when our car was knocked off the highway by a speeding drunk, collapsing into a sharp ditch. I regained unconsciousness with my sister's bloody limp body sprawled across my own. I held her in my arms, crying as the blood poured out from her open wounds staining my clothes.

I didn't go outside for a long time after that, lying under my covers, sobbing about the loss of half of my family, and waiting for the results of my father from the hospital. I had made it out alive, lucky for me. No bruises, a few cuts, and no trauma. Physically, that is.

'Are you there?' I opened up the chat screen with Bakura, wrapping myself with my blanket. 'Please respond...'

I waited with anticipation as his status changed from available to busy. Then came back to available. My heart skipped a beat when he responded.

'I'm sorry. What's the matter?'

'My life has been turned upside down in the past day, I...'

I paused letting the events sink inside my head. 'I lost my mother and my sister in a car crash. My father's in the hospital in the emergency room.'

'Oh my God, that's horrible! I'm so sorry! I know there isn't much I could do to help you, but if you need me I'll be right here okay? If there's anything you want to talk about...'

'Do you... By any chance... Have a webcam?'

'Yeah I do.'

'May I see you?'

There was nothing more than I wanted than to catch a glimpse of his face again.

'Sure hang on...'

'I don't have one, so I hope you don't mind a one way video.'

'That's fine. Let me just hook the camera up.'

I waited for the small webcam icon to appear then clicked on it.

A small window popped up, with a loading screen. I pulled the laptop closer on my lap, with the screen inches in front of my face. The image became clear. I smiled.

There were no tears now.

'Can you hear me?' He spoke into his headset, smirking awkwardly at the webcam, waving slightly at me.

'Perfectly.' I typed, feeling slightly embarrassed with my old laptop. It didn't have a built in microphone or camera or anything. 'I'm sorry about my lack of advanced technology.'

'That's fine.' He replied, looking around his room. 'I'm not supposed to be on today since I have a large test tomorrow, but I'll be here for you.'

'Thank you so much. Your hair...' I studied his long spiky white hair carefully, comparing it to my own. He no longer had the face of a child but a matured adolescent with the occasional mischevious grin, as if he knew something that I didn't.

'Horrible isn't it?' He chuckled, pawing at it.

'I like it. It's beautiful.'

He blinked in confusion in the screen, looking at me through his computer. His strange mood slowly faded into a sheepish smile.

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome.'

'Is there, anything else you would like before I go?'

'Your name, is there anyway I could get it?'

'I'm not actually supposed to give away my name on the internet. You can call me... Zorc I guess.' He laughed. 'Almighty guardian of the darkness from this video game I play.'

I couldn't help but smile along with him. 'Alright Zorc, you can call me I guess...' I thought for a moment for a witty name. 'White Mage.'

'Nice to meet you White Mage.'

'Cheers, Zorc.'

'And speaking of that... Are you feeling better? Cheered up?'

'Much better. Thanks to you.'

'I'm glad. I'm usually online in the evening. If you'd like to talk again, I'll be glad to drop by and sneak in a hello.'

'That would be wonderful.'

Bakura yawned, turning away from the camera, waving me a tired good night. The window closed and he signed off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

My father came home the next day, along with a basket of gifts left out in the front door much later in the evening. I watched from my window as he picked it up, looking at it disgustingly, and then tossing it in the trash can behind our house.

I dashed downstairs, meeting him in the living room, stopping to stare at the dead expression across his face.

"What was that?" I asked.

"What?" He didn't bother looking at me.

"That basket, left at the doorsteps."

"Some..." He rubbed his head, furrowing his eyebrows. "Some charity thing I guess. They wanted to give us some free coupons."

"Looks to me like a gift basket."

"It's none of your business, Ryou. Get back upstairs."

I stiffened, offended by his impatience, storming back upstairs to cover myself again, underneath the starry autumn sky before drifting slowly to sleep.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

'Are you awake?'

I blinked my tired eyelids at the screen after staring at it for the entire night, waiting for nothing in particular. I shuffled my hands from underneath the warm blanket and typed.

'Yeah.'

'Is it clear where you live?'

I looked out the windows to see prickles of ice in the sky.

'Yeah it is.'

'Cool, you should be able to faintly make out the star Vega.'

'Vega?'

'Astronomers call it the second most important star in the night sky besides the sun itself.'

'I didn't know you studied astronomy.'

'I don't, but there is a legend behind the star that caught my attention a few years back. Where Vega and another star, Altair are together, only once a year, a bridge of birds appears in the milky way to unite two lovers for one day only, banished by the Jade Emporer.'

Interesting... I thought, looking out the window at the stars above, sighing as I mentally pictured Bakura on the other side of Japan, looking at the same star.

'That's usually how the myth goes, but there is another ending. There was one year where the birds didn't arrive, so the lovers had to cross by themselves. They stayed longer with each other than a day and eventually the Emporer found out. He executed them both.'

'And then...?'

'Apparently love found a way out. The star crossed lovers were reincarnated into twins. They escaped the Emporer even after they've been caught again and again. Kind of crazy huh?'

No, it wasn't. It was quite mystical to imagine, two people seperated from each other, star crossed lovers who might have never had a chance with each other. To even conquer death. And be reincarnated...

_ Into twins._

The shuffling of footsteps caught my attention outside. I opened my window, shivering when the cold air blew into my room. I peered down, and in the dim lights, I saw a figure right at my doorsteps.

_Akefia! What are you...?_

He placed his hands him his pocket and took out something, a small book. He placed it on the ground beside my door, his head bowed low. He looked at it for a moment longer in melacholy, then sighed, walking away.

'Are you still there?' I looked at the screen again.

'Hold on a second, I'll be right back.'

I made my way silently downstairs, careful not to wake up my father. If he found out about the book, no surprise he'll just throw it away or something. Was it Akefia who was leaving me all the presents at the doorsteps? Why was my father so cold hearted to ignore him?

I had forgotten about my friend this month... After talking with Bakura, and what happened with my family. I realized that he must have been feeling lonely. An outcast, like myself. And even though the bond wasn't as strong as the one I shared with Bakura, we still depended on each other. I wondered how he must of felt.

I picked up the book, reading the title.

"Nami... no To. Tower of Waves."

'Do you know anything about this book?' I typed to Bakura when I was back upstairs.

'Yeah, I've read it before. It's a bit dark, but it's a good book. I don't remember what happens though, sorry, but my father told me to read it and I enjoyed it. I lost my copy a long time ago, I think I might have left it somewhere during all that moving.'

'I think I'll give it a shot... My friend left it at my doorsteps.'

'He must care about you huh?'

'I guess.' I stared back down at the book again. Then back at the stars. 'I'm going to go now, it was nice talking to you.'

'You too.'

I opened the cover to the first page and began reading Tower of Waves.

**-0-0-0-0-0-0-**

The more I talked to Bakura, the more I thought of our conclusion. The puzzle pieces were slowly fitting inside my head. And all the endings finished with an eeiry location I thought about constantly.

It was no coincidence Bakura explained to me another myth he had found while doing his studies. _Did he know_...? Did he want us to...

An old Japanese myth told that when two star crossed lovers committed double suicide, they would be reincarnated. Again into twins.

I looked at the ball of red thread sitting on my desktop beside me. The string of destiny that would never break? Were we meant to meet again? _To be together?_

During the break in school where the snow was too heavy to tread across, this was the only thing on my mind.

That, and the forest that loomed ominously above our village. Aokigahara.

'That couldn't be the only option could it?' I thought as I clutched a thick and heavy rope I found lying around the fences of the outskirts of the village. "Surely... There had to be another way."

But I didn't want to live like this anymore. The days passing without him were almost unbearable, with my father less around the house and in a worse mood than ever.

With Akefia in the back of my head, lost, after his own incident when a thief broke into his house, killing his parents and wounding him as well. The villagers wouldn't stop talking about it after the police came and took away their corpses in body bags, leaving the poor teen in the house alone. I was tempted to go comfort him, however there was a blizzard that day that stopped me. I tried not to think of him afterwards.

The last time I saw him walking to school alone, he looked like someone had abandoned him... A part of his heart taken away from him.

_ I missed him didn't I? _

_ Did Bakura miss me?_

I felt so empty without him. As the snow drifted in the cold air, there wasn't much I did during that winter besides talking to him. Watching him as he applied to the universities he wanted to get into. Cheering with him when he was accepted.

'Congratulations!'

'Thanks, that was... Wow I'm glad this will be all over soon. I'm at a new school, just getting set up. During the early spring, there'll be break. I might go somewhere for a vacation.'

'How about Mt. Fuji?' I smiled, hoping that he would come for a visit.

'That sounds lovely, maybe we'll see each other.'

'I really want to meet you sometime in this lifetime.'

'Of course, we'll see each other one day. Maybe in an unexpected encounter!'

'That would be amazing.'

Imagining him and I together again, after all these years of being separated was like a dream came true. If we could finally realize our fate with each other. Twining and entangling, but never breaking.

I would wait for him as the months passed by, thinking nothing but our eventual encounter. I didn't talk to anyone I didn't need to talk to. I was to arrive at school, and then go home. Then spend the night chatting with Bakura. I didn't need anything else.

And maybe, I could convince him. Seeing the unlikely chance of staying with each other in this world, with me locked up in this small village and him in his large city, I could convince him to end it with me together. So our soul would be carried on to the next life, reborn as twins. That way, we'll never be separated.

I'll leave this world without any regrets. Without turning back. With no one needing me anymore.

_But isn't there a loose end?_

"RYOU!"

I jumped, dropping the red yarn on the floor I untangled on the floor, his booming voice from outside startled me so much I started shaking.

_His name..._

_ Did I forget my friend's name?_

"I know you're in here! Please, Ryou!"

I hesitantly made my way downstairs, feeling my breath coming in with shallow gasps. Reality slowly sank in.

"Akefia...?"

_ What have I done to him?_

I saw his bloodied blue tinted hands, raw from digging in the snow, and in the center, a pale delicate flower, splitting from the middle, two identical petals...

I grabbed the twinflower, forgetting all about it, and buried myself in his embrace, wanting nothing to comfort the friend I had abandoned during the worst time possible. 'You're so good at finding things... I'm sorry, I... It's been such a long time.' I trailed my hands up his face, looking at my friend for the first time in ages.

_And finally, his eyes. _

"W-what…"

A deep scar trailing from his right eye to his jaw.

"It's nothing honestly." He softly nuzzled my hand, painful memories flickering across his eyes for a moment. "I'm just worried about you."

What a terrible person I was! Thinking of the next world when I... I still had someone here that I still cared about. Akefia... He was so different than Bakura. But he cared about me just the same didn't he?

"You... You live alone don't you? I've heard it from the others." I asked.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Akefia was lying through his teeth, I could tell from his sorrowful expression. There was nothing hurting him more than the loss of his parents. That and our hiatus.

"Did you manage to read that novel I gave to you?"

"No." I responded after a pause. "My father took it away."

Our first encounter in so long and all we did was lie to each other. Where was our friendship? Was there someone else that he found or are we just naturally falling apart...?

"I'm just glad we're talking again."

I smiled, happy that we thought the same. Him and I, just like...

_Old times..._

"Me too."

There was a mutual agreement between the two of us to let him stay at my house that night. I didn't mind it at all. I made us some hot chocolate and he listened to me talking about the night my sister and mother died. It took a load off of my shoulders, glad there was someone beside me to listen to me describe it once again, this time in person. Akefia listened without protest, into the night, watching the moon together.

Peace? Warmth? I confess I did feel like that cuddling up to him in my sleep, if only for that one night. This time it was Bakura at the back of my head. Would we be able to be like this one day?

I drifted off into a nice cozy sleep, waking up the next morning with Akefia's arms around me, watching his gaze fall on me.

_That strange expression on his face._

I pulled back suddenly.

"What's wrong Ryou?" He said, surprised as I was.

"N-Nothing Akefia. I'm sorry, you'll have to go now, my father might be home a-any minute. I don't want the two of us to be in trouble."

He nodded, making his way to the door, giving me one last glance with that same look, then disappearing in the early morning fog.

I kneeled down on the floor, feeling like I had to throw up. It was happening again, Akefia managed to duplicate the same emotion the way I had used whenever I was with Bakura. I couldn't see that look on his face. He had to leave.

_ Did he..._

_ Did he think...?_

I opened up my laptop, clearing all thoughts of what happened with our reunion. I had two messages from Bakura.

'Good news! I will be coming to Mt. Fuji tomorrow!'

My heart leapt from my throat; a sudden dizziness overcame me. This was real life. I was going to see Bakura again.

'I booked a spot for two at one of the camping resorts, and the hiking trail, and all of that!'

He invited me! I couldn't help but grin like an idiot, images flashing in my head from our childhood. The bike trips, the games, playing in the forest... It'll be like that all over again. I won't have to suffer again.

'That's wonderful!'

'Yeah,' Bakura responded after a while. 'It'll be the three of us together!'

_What?_

'Three?'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you beforehand about Marik.'

'Who's... Marik?'

'I'll introduce you two when we meet tomorrow. He's great, I met him in the school. He's been the first friend that's been there for me.'

_I thought that was me..._

'And he's just amazing. I'm sure you two will get along.'

I thought it was just supposed to be the two of us...

'That's... wonderful. Is he... A special sort of friend?'

'What do you mean?'

'Like a best friend?' I felt a strange emotion stir up in the pit of my stomach. 'Like someone who will always be there for you? Like someone that you'll tie the two ends of a red yarn with, making the promises that you'll never be separated?!'

'You mean...' I could sense his confusion through his words typed on the screen. I felt his answer coming. I _knew_ what it was_ before_ I asked him the question. The emotion engulfed me now, I was covered with cold sweat, trembling from head to toe, the tears leaking out of my eyes uncontrollably.

'Someone that I love?'

I threw the laptop on the ground in harsh blind rage screaming so loud the birds perched outside flew away startled. I sobbed into my covers, tearing at my own skin.

_What was it all for? What was he trying to do?! _

_ There wasn't supposed to be anything or anyone who could cut the string!_

_ You said it yourself!_

I looked at the crack that appeared on the screen from the impact, the screen flashing from clear to black slowly.

'For get IT!'

I typed, no longer looking at the screen.

'Is something wrong?'

I collapsed in front of the laptop, swearing and cursing all the deities I could think of.

'I have to go now, I hope we'll see each other tomorrow, could you at least tell me your name?'

It was for nothing...

All for nothing...

'My name's Bakura... Are you still there? Please, at least tell me yours.'

'Forget it.' I sobbed as the words appeared on the chat.

First the children at school hated me, my parents left me, my father abandoned me, my life destroyed... Now you're casting me aside too?

I deleted his name from my chat list. With one less name there, it was completely empty. I closed the laptop, sitting there hollowly, without any hope. As time went past, I felt my anger subdue... slowly into grief. He was never meant to be mine. There was no longer such a thing as us. The last pieces of my soul shattered.

"At least... Let me wait for you." I whispered, looking at the novel Akefia had left me.

A pair _of star crossed lovers_ with no hope in society tragically commits double _suicide_...

... double _suicide_, and they'll be reincarnated as _twins_...

..._Star crossed lovers_ that couldn't be even separated during death. Once a year, in the celestial heavens reunited, and reborn as _twins._..

_The strand of destiny that would never break._

I opened my laptop one last time, typing in a search.

Something painless and quick. Something with a little chance of failure.

Grabbing the red yarn and the rope I had lying under the bed, I walked out into the village before the sun had come up. I looked at Bakura's old house... no, Akefia's current house. I took my bike and pedaled into the Forbidden Forest.

I took in a deep breath, staying there until late at night, thinking of my decision. Over and over.

_ Tomorrow Bakura will come home._

_ Tomorrow I'll wait for him._

I'll wait for him for eternity until the day we truly become twins.

I pulled out a piece of paper and began to write out my anger and sadness to the world.

I didn't finish until late at night, by the candlelight, resting at my house, for the very last time. I had no sleep. It was pointless anyways, eternal rest waited for me. I did not need to prepare for that.

Instead, I looked out the window, searching for Vega and Altair, the two lovers isolated in the sky. I prayed to the crescent moon, shining it's pure light down on all the people in the realm of its night. By the morning, I was ready.

With the rope in one hand, memorizing the steps it took to really secure a noose, and the red yarn in my other... Just in case I wanted to back out. Or if anyone came looking for me. Just as I was about to step out the door, in the corner of my eyes, I spotted Akefia's house. A sharp pain centered around my heart jabbed me suddenly, bringing unwanted tears to my surface.

I wish I had never seen him. Now I knew I couldn't go on without at least telling him goodbye. But I had to make sure that he wouldn't follow me. There shouldn't be any commotion or attention. Especially from him.

I smiled sadly to him, face to face at his front doorsteps.

"I'm sorry Akefia. You should stop worrying about me."

"Why would I do that?" He responded, and I clenched my fists.

"If there's anything you'd like from me... My furniture, my house, my money. You can just take it all."

"Why are you saying... I don't want any of that." _Yes you do! You'll need it all if you're going to live alone like that. I don't want to leave you alone here without anything!_

"I'm serious 'Kefia..." My patience was wearing dangerous on edge. "They don't mean anything to me anymore. Take it all. You have a life to live."

I saw him tense up when I told him to live.

"Hey Ryou, don't be talking like that." I backed away, glaring dangerously at him in warning. "If you want, we could go to the forest again…" He tried to smile. "And I'll find you some Twinflowers that seem to always make you so happy."

"No!" Something snapped inside of me. I let out all of my rage on him at that moment. "Would you just stop it Akefia? Why can't you let it go?!"

I started to choke up, I could feel my face reddening at the confrontation.

"This isn't about me anymore. Can't you just start thinking about yourself for once! You don't understand…"

"Ryou…" _Stop trying! It's pointless!_

"Forget about me Akefia. I promise I will do the same to you." I turned away from him before he could see my tears. I ran into my house again, snatching up the letter I wrote last night and tore it apart.

"A new one." I whispered. This time, instead of pouring out my emotions I will describe. I'll let him know my story. And when he finds my body, or at least this note. He'll know. He'll know what he's done.

_ Perhaps he'll have enough sense to join me._

Everything from the day we met to when he abandoned me. I'm no longer a random kid from a small village hiding behind a screen. I'm Bakura's other half. The two of us like twins.

The sun was starting to set, I had to go.

I left my room, placing Tower of Waves on my bed, a bookmark freshly placed in the last page. I didn't bother to lock up. If my father, Akefia, or the police wanted to see what had happened, let them. Let them guess about my life, about a heart broken boy with a torn family and life. They didn't need to know about Bakura anyways. I clutched the note in my hand tightly.

_That was for only him to know._

I arrived in front of the foggy forest, when the first two brightest stars, Vega and Altair peeked out from the horizon. I carried three things, the rope, the yarn, and my note.

A young couple looking at a map of the forest stared at me as I walked past them, gasping in horror. They avoided my gaze and turned away. Another man saw me as well, eyeing the things I had in my hand up and down. As I walked down the parking lot, placing my bike down, I received a lot of stares from tourists. None of them did anything to stop me.

I walked into _Aokigahara Jukai_.

I didn't know where I was going. Just up. The trees became thicker, a true Sea of Trees. The sun made way for the moon, lighting up my way, the undergrowth leaves sliding beneath my sneakers.

As I was walking upwards, I took out my red ball of thread, tying it to the branch of a tree. People might mistaken the thread for a doubt in my mind, as people who walk into this forest bring some sort of trail so they could turn back. It wasn't what I had in mind for this thread.

It followed me, wherever I went. And just like Bakura said, it bent, it was pulled, and it was stretched. But it never broke. Finally, I reached the end of the ball. I placed a hand on a tree beside me, tightening the home made noose I had, making sure no one could pull it free.

I tied it on a branch up high, and stood on the boulder right beside the tree. I looked up at the moon...

_ The brilliant snow white moon._

I wrapped the rope around my neck, taking in slow deep breaths, I closed my eyes.

_ Two best friends... _

_ You took my heart away. _

_ Never to be replaced,_

And clenched my hand on my last note.

_I'll wait for you._

_ No matter how long it takes._

_ We'll finally be together one day._

_ Reunited._

_ Like the twins we are._

I jumped off the rock, the rope tightened around my neck and I waited.

I waited for my eternal rest, for death to envellop me completely, all of my emotions and sorrow fading away.

Falling, slowly falling into nothing, leaving behind everything.

I heard my muffled heartbeat dimly fade away...

.

...

...

_But the warmth I wanted didn't come._

_I could still... feel?_

_My body was suddenly covered with a strange unholy chill, it shook violently, leaving me with nothing but a frozen feeling to my very core, and an aching hunger at the bottom of my stomach._

_My heartbeat still beated! No- that pounding wasn't my heart._

_Something was horribly wrong._

_My fingers clenched up suddenly on the cold forest floor._

_My eyes snapped open to meet the mocking glare of the bright moonlight._

.

..

...

...

...

...

...**_I hope you find it in your heart to forgive me Bakura, for what I came to._**

**_ I didn't mean for this to happen, but I couldn't live like this any longer._**

**_ Don't worry about me; I'll be happy wherever I am._**

**_ Because I know, I'll be waiting for you._**

**_ Please don't forget me._**

**_ The one who had always kept you close,_**

**_ -Ryou._**


End file.
